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On Friday, UN organizations warned of extremely dangerous nutritional conditions for Yemen’s children, who are suffering as a result of the aggression and the blockade.
Various organizations said that about 2.3 million children under the age of five in Yemen suffer from acute malnutrition this year, including 400,000 children are expected to suffer from severe acute malnutrition with the possibility of death if they do not receive urgent treatment.
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations “FAO” and the United Nations Children’s Fund “UNICEF”, the World Food Program and the World Health Organization said, in a joint statement, that “ The new figures contained in the latest report on malnutrition from the Integrated Food Security Phase Safety Classification issued today refer to There is an increase in the rates of acute and severe acute malnutrition by 16 percent and 22 percent, respectively, among the children under five by 2020 ”.
“These figures are among the highest rates of severe acute malnutrition in Yemen since the conflict escalated in 2015,” he added.
He stated that “rates of acute malnutrition among young children and mothers in Yemen increased with the passing of each year of the conflict, while the year 2020 witnessed a significant deterioration due to high rates of diseases such as diarrhea, respiratory infections , cholera, and high rates of food insecurity. “
He explained that “among the most affected provinces are Aden, Al-Dhalea, Hajjah, Hodeidah, Lahj, Taiz and the city of Sana’a, which account for more than half of the acute malnutrition cases expected by 2021.”
UN organizations have classified Yemen as “one of the most dangerous places in the world for children to grow up. The country suffers from high rates of infectious diseases, limited access to routine immunization services and health services. for children and families, inadequate feeding practices for infants and young children, and inadequate Sanitation and Environmental Sanitation systems ”.
He noted that “the fragile healthcare system is already suffering from the side effects of the coronavirus, which has depleted scarce resources and resulted in a decrease in the number of patients seeking medical care.”
The UN statement quoted UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta Fore as saying: “The growing number of hungry children in Yemen should prompt us all to act. More children will die with each passing day without doing the necessary work.
He emphasized, “The need for humanitarian organizations to obtain urgent and predictable resources with unimpeded access to communities in the field in order to save lives.”
For his part, the Director General of the Food and Agriculture Organization “FAO”, Qu Dongyu, said that “Yemeni families have been in the grip of conflict for a long time, and the risks that have recently emerged as the Corona viruses have only seriously exacerbated their plight. “
“Unless security and stability are achieved throughout the country and access to farmers is improved so that they are provided with the necessary means to resume growing enough useful food, Yemen’s children and their families will continue to sink into deeper levels of hunger and malnutrition, “he said.
The Executive Director of the World Food Program, David Beasley, said: “These numbers represent another call for help from Yemen, as every child suffering from malnutrition also means there is a family struggling to survive.”
In turn, the Director General of the World Health Organization, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, “Disease and a poor and healthy environment are among the main factors that cause malnutrition in children.”
He stated that “malnourished children are more vulnerable to diseases such as diarrhea, respiratory infections and malaria, which are a source of great concern in Yemen, among other things”, considering it a “vicious and often fatal cycle”, highlighting that “It can through the implementation of relatively simple and inexpensive interventions that save many lives.
The UN organizations’ statement said: “Preventing malnutrition and addressing its devastating effects starts with good health care for mothers, but around 1.2 million pregnant or lactating women in Yemen are expected to suffer from acute malnutrition in 2021.” .
Source: Sputnik
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